BRIEF OF THE CLINCHFIELD SAND & FELDSPAR CORPORATION, BALTIMORE, MD. To the honorable CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE Committee oN WAYS AND MEANS: We, the Clinchfield Sand & Feldspar Corporation, of Baltimore, Md., are miners of crude barytes ores at King Creek, Cherokee County, S. C. We are unable to compete with the imported German ores coming into this country in increasing quantities every year as shown below. In 1922, 23,239 tons of crude barytes were imported from Germany and has increased yearly to a total of 70,274 tons. No American producer can hope to compete with the foreign producer by reason of our wages. The present freight rates are about 80 to 100 per cent higher from the American mines to the American seaboard consumers than the ocean rates from the German mines to the same points. It will require an increase in duty of $4 per ton to enable the domestic barytes producers to remain in business and pay even the present low scale of wages. Respectfully submitted. HENRY N. HANNA, Vice President, Clinchfield Sand & Feldspar Corporation, Baltimore, Md. BRIEF OF THOMPSON, WEINMAN & CO. (INC.), NEW YORK CITY WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: Referring to the tariff on crude barytes ore, paragraph 69, pag 10, tariff act of 1922, issued by the Treasury Department, you will find the duty $4 per ton. May we state that in the House bill, as recorded in their report, when it wen to the Senate for action the duty was designated at $4 per net ton of 2,000 pounds This we felt was a help to us, but when it was transcribed into the Senate bill i became $4 per ton, no specification being given as to whether it referred to ne tons of 2,000 pounds or gross tons of 2,240 pounds. A little over half of the ore mined in the United States is sold in tons of 2,00 pounds, the balance of the ore mined in the South being sold as gross tons o 2,240 pounds. When the importations began to come in from Germanythink I am correct in stating the following-the first consignment was referre back to Washington as to whether the duty was $4 per net ton or $4 per gros ton, and it was accepted as gross tons or 2,240 pounds, thus making the duty & per gross ton. We therefore ask that you restore the present duty on crude barytes ore t $4.48 per gross ton, which would be as sold from abroad. This will be in accord ance with our original understanding and will be simply giving us what we ex pected to receive. Thanking you, we remain, Very respectfully yours, PAGA MINING Co., THOMPSON, WEINMAN & Co. (INC.)., By S. W. THOMPSON. BRIEF OF THE KREBS PIGMENT & CHEMICAL CO., NEWPOR DEL. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. SIRS: Present duty $4 per ton of 2,240 pounds. Briefs on this subject ha been submitted, as follows: 1. Thompson, Weinman & Co. and Paga Mining Co., with mines in Georgi and with Barium Reduction Co., with plant in West Virginia concurring, a that present duty of $4 per ton of 2,240 pounds be changed to $4 per ton 2,000 pounds. 2. Citizens of Washington County, Mo. ask for duty of $8 per ton, which will, according to their brief, entirely prevent the importation of crude barytes. 3. The American Zinc Institute, on behalf of its members engaged in the manufacture of lithopone, have submitted a brief under Schedule I, paragraph 79, relating to lithopone, asking that the duty on lithopone be not changed, provided the duty on raw materials, including barytes, be not changed. The Krebs Pigment & Chemical Co., of Newport, Del., manufacturers of lithopone, begs to submit that, whereas the United States mined in 1927, 248,219 short tons of barytes, there were imported only 70,274 short tons; that this imported ore was all used by manufacturers of lithopone located on the Atlantic seaboard, who are so far removed from the domestic mines of Georgia, Tennessee, and Missouri that freight rates make it not economical to get their ore from these sources, whereas lithopone manufacturers and other consumers of barytes ore, located in Georgia, Illinois, and Missouri can and do find it economical to draw their ore from domestic sources near at hand. The duty of $8 per short ton, asked for by the Missouri producers, would be equivalent to more than 300 per cent ad valorem; whereas the finished product, lithopone, has a duty of 134 cents per pound, equivalent to only about 50 per cent ad valorem. We respectfully ask that the present duty on crude barytes be retained unchanged. Respectfully submitted. THE KREBS PIGMENT & CHEMICAL Co., By A. S. KREBS, President. BRIEF OF THE AMERICAN ZINC INSTITUTE, NEW YORK CITY To the COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: Briefs on this subject have already been submitted by American manufacturers of barium chemicals (and sodium sulphide) comprising the following companies: E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. (Inc.), Wilmington, Del., and branches. Chicago Copper & Chemical Co., of Chicago, Ill.; plant at Blue Island, Ill. Providence Dry Salters Co., of Providence, R. I.; factory at East Greenwich, R. I. Thompson, Weinman & Co. (Inc.), of New York; mines in Georgia and Tennessee. Dow Chemical Co., head office and plant at Midland, Mich. Bertha Mineral Co., Newark, N. J.; mines and plant at Sweetwater, Tenn.; also Georgia. Barium Reduction Corporation, of Charleston, W. Va.; factory at South Charleston, W. Va.; mines south of Lynchburg, Va., and near Sweetwater, Tenn. Titanium Pigments Co., office and factory at St. Louis; mines in Missouri and California. Richo Manufacturing Co., head office and plant at Utica, N. Y. Barium Products Co., of San Francisco, Calif.; plant at Modesto, Calif. The J. H. R. Products Co., Cleveland, Ohio; plant at Willoughby, Ohio. Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, St. Louis, Mo., in reference to U. S. P. barium sulphate. (Committee print, unrevised, pp. 200–201.) Also by the following miners of Barytes: Paga Mining Co., and Thompson, Weinman & Co. (Inc.), Cartersville, Ga. (committee print, unrevised, pp. 576-577); Krebs Mining Co., Newport, Del. (brief filed with committee on or about February 18, 1929). Said briefs ask that the present duty of $4 per ton be not changed, except that it be construed to apply to the ton of 2,000 pounds. The undersigned, being all of the manufacturers of lithopone in the United States, indorse the briefs above mentioned: Md. Chemical & Pigment Co. (Inc.), by T. H. Zappert, vice president, Baltimore, E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. (Inc.), (consolidated with the Grasselli Chemical Co.), by E. C. Thompson, vice president, Cleveland, Ohio. The Eagle-Picher Lead Co., by Arthur E. Bendelari, president, Chicago, Ill. The Krebs Pigment & Chemical Co., by A. S. Krebs, president, Newport, Del. The New Jersey Zinc Co., by H. S. Wardner, treasurer, New York, N. Y. Sherwin-Williams Co., by Oliver Box, general superintendent, Cleveland, Ohio. United Color & Pigment Co., by Joseph J. Mangin, president, Newark, N. J. The above-named corporate officers have stated that their respective corporations concur in this memorandum. We are advised that permission has been granted to file this brief with your committee at this time. Approved: AMERICAN ZINC INSTITUTE (Inc.), BARIUM SULPHATE [Par. 69] STATEMENT OF DR. F. W. RUSSE, REPRESENTING THE MALLINCKRODT CHEMICAL WORKS, ST. LOUIS, MO. DR. RUSSE. In recent years a new use has been found for barium sulphate, a medicinal use. It is used in X-ray diagnosis. Several ounces literally are pumped into you when an X-ray picture is taken. The preparation of that quality must be quite exact. It must be free from all poisonous matter; all soluble barium compounds must be removed, all impurities must be removed, because it is introduced internally; sometimes by the mouth, sometimes otherwise. That sort of barium sulphate can now be imported at the precipitate barium sulphate duty of 1 per cent per pound. We ask for a specific duty on medicinal, that is U. S. P. barium, sulphate of 5 cents a pound. We are not interested in the commercial. Mr. COLLIER. I would like to ask the gentleman a question just for my own information. What acid is covered by that last paragraph, 69? Doctor RUSSE. That is barium sulphate. Mr. COLLIER. I understood you to say that you were willing for it to come in free, commercially. Doctor RUSSE. No; I beg your pardon. Mr. COLLIER. I want to understand you. Doctor RUSSE. We are not interested in the commerical article. We do not make it. We are interested in the medicinal article only. Mr. COLLIER. I was just wondering what the reason was for letting the commercial article come in free and making the sick people pay a duty. You say it is used in medicine, in connection with X rays. Will that very materially increase the price? Doctor RUSSE. No. There will be no increase in our sales price, whether the duty is put on or not. When we can not sell at our present price we will just quit. We can not stand the competition of the Germans, at 1 cent a pound. Mr. COLLIER. How much did you want on the medicinal? Doctor RUSSE. Five cents a pound. It is a comparatively small article. There are approximately 400,000 pounds-possibly more used annually in this country, but it must be made very carefully, as you can appreciate. Mr. HULL. You get three-sixteenths. Doctor RUSSE. One cent per pound now. It is three-sixteenths net protection on sodium sulphite, dried. On barium sulphate there is 1 cent a pound. Mr. HULL. You want it raised from 1 cent to 5 cents. Doctor RUSSE. On the new quality, which is not at present in the tariff. There would be no question as to the analysis, because the analysis would be predetermined by the United States Pharmacopoeia. It is not uncertain medicinal quality. It is United States Pharmacopoeia quality. Mr. RAINEY. I do not quite follow you. You say this will not increase the price. Doctor RUSSE. It will not increase our price. Mr. RAINEY. What do you want this increase in the tariff for? Doctor RUSSE. Because it is a new use. It is not new, in the sense that it has been going on for some two or three years only but the Germans have not yet discovered the quantity used in this country. Mr. RAINEY. You are afraid the Germans will discover it? Doctor RUSSE. Yes, sir. We are not being disturbed particularly now. Mr. RAINEY. It is not a matter of keeping the Germans from discovering this process, because the Germans discovered this process. Doctor RUSSE. That is true. It is made over in Germany. It is not new in that sense. Mr. RAINEY. You will not get any more for it if we introduce this tariff? Doctor RUSSE. Not any more than our present price. Our present price is 92 cents a pound. Mr. RAINEY. You want to increase it? Doctor RUSSE. We want to increase the tariff to protect ourselves, from 1 to 5 cents. If we can not sell it at 92 cents, we will have to quit. Mr. RAINEY. Where does your profit come in? Doctor RUSSE. It will not increase our profit. Our present profit is moderate, and we can not very well lower it. We do not intend to increase it. Mr. RAINEY. How long do you want that tariff in existence, if it will not do you any good? Doctor RUSSE. I do not quite appreciate your statement that it will not do us any good. As I understand it, the tariff will probably last 8 or 10 years. We all have to look into the future. Mr. RAINEY. You expect it to last about how long in order to give some benefit to you? Doctor RUSSE. About ten years. Mr. RAINEY. I think it would be that long. (DR. RUSSE's brief is printed with the general statements on chemicals.) ULTRAMINE BLUE [Par. 70] BRIEF OF ULTRAMARINE BLUE MANUFACTURERS Hon. WILLIS C. HAWLEY, Chairman House Ways and Means Committee, Washington, D. C. SIR: The following brief is submitted in common by all the manufacturers of ultramarine in the United States on behalf of the ultramarine industry which has been successfully conducted in this country since 1868 in spite of the vicissitudes and trials of varying tariff legislation. The list herewith gives the manufacturers of ultramarine in the United States in the order of the dates of their respective organizations: The Heller & Merz Co., Newark, N. J. The International Ultramarine Works, Staten Island, N. Y. The Russ Co., South Bend, Ind. The Standard Ultramarine Co., Huntington, W. Va. The National Ultramarine Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. (1) We recommend that the specific duty on ultramarine blue, dry, in pulp, or ground in or mixed with oil or water, wash and all other blues containing ultramarine be raised from 3 cents per pound as stated in paragraph 70 of the act of 1922 to 6 cents per pound for reasons to be submitted to your consideration in the course of this brief. (2) IMPORTANCE OF THE INDUSTRY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT Ultramarine is industrially the most importnat blue mineral pigment. It finds application in the following industrues: Paint and varnish, as a pigment; linoleum and oilcloth, as a coloring matter; paper, for tinting, coating, and bleaching; printing and lithographic inks, as a pigment; sugar refining, as a bleaching agent; rubber, as a coloring matter; soap and candles, as a coloring matter; cement tile and mosaic, as a coloring matter; enameling, as a coloring matter; and artists' colors. In addition to the quantities used in these industries a large quantity of ultramarine is used in the preparation of laundry blue which is also an item covered by paragraph 70 of the tariff act. The importance of the ultramarine industry is shown by the diversity of the applications of the product. Artificial ultramarine was first manufactured in France in 1828 by a process devised by a French chemist. Prior to its manufacture it was produced from the mineral, lapis lazuli, and it cost about $20 an ounce. The artificial process reduced the price to $4 or $5 per pound and since then, by improvement of the process and the competition of the numerous factories devoted to its production, it has fallen to prices varying from 10 cents per pound to 25 cents per pound, depending on the quality. The first successful ultramarine plant established in the United States was started in New Jersey in 1868. The The raw materials used are china clay, soda ash, kieselguhr, diatomaceous earth or other silicious material, sulphur, and a suitable carbonaceous material such as pitch, rosin, or lampblack. The raw materials are mixed in proper proportions, heated in muffle or crucible furnaces, and then slowly cooled. fired product is blue. It must be carefully washed to free it from soluble salts. finely ground, levigated, and dried. After disintegration of the dried batchethey are bolted and blended to produce the desired standards demanded by the industries in which ultramarine finds its application. The process is described in greater detail in Tariff Information Surveys on Articles, paragraphs 53-63 inclusive, of the tariff act of 1913, revised edition, at page 25. In the process of manufacture about 30 per cent of the output of course, dullcolored material is separated from the first-quality ultramarine. This inferion product is not the result of technical errors; it is the result of the nature of the raw materials and of the very nature of the process. Every ultramarine manu facturer has this inferior product to contend with and to dispose of. The succes or failure of the ultramarine manufacturer hinges on the successful marketing of his second-class material. The importance of this phase of ultramarin manufacture will again be referred to. |